(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of controlling and manipulating display icons which are representative of objects such as documents, files and computer programs. These iconic representations are generally used to indicate, on the video display of a computer monitor, the documents, files and programs available within the computer. These iconic representations are also used in associated materials such as user's manuals, reference books and as trademarks.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In the context of computer technology, an icon is an image depicted on the display of a computer as a symbolic representation of information about objects available within that computer. An example of an icon based display system is the Macintosh.RTM. computer system manufactured by Apple Computer, Inc., of Cupertino, Calif. Icons provide a preferable means of representing such information because icons can be quickly and easily identified by a user and because icons generally use less space than do standard textual representations of the same information. In addition, icons are generally considered to be more visually and logically appealing to users than text. For example, an icon which depicts a file folder instantly tells the user that this object may contain multiple documents. Conversely, if mere text was used to represent an object and the name used was ambiguous, such as "client listings", the user might not know whether that object contained multiple documents, or whether that object was only a single document possibly containing listings relating to a particular client.
While the method in which an icon imparts information about an object may be advantageous, an icon is generally limited to representing information about only one particular aspect of the object and cannot easily concatenate additional information about that object which would also be desirable to the user. This problem has been addressed in the past by changing the icon's size to display a larger image containing more information, or by providing the user with certain commands which would cause the computer to display supplemental textual information about the object.